Clothes-hanger support for wardrobe trunks



T. J. MOORE CLOTHES HANGER SUPPORT FOR WARDROBE TRUNKS March 24, 192iFiled March 14, 1923 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 24, 1925.

. was i THOMAS J. MOORE, PETER-SBURG, VIRGINIA.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, THOMAS J Moonn a citizenof the United States, residing at Petersburg, in the county of Dinwiddieand State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Clothes-Hanger Supports for Wardrobe Trunks, of which the followingisaspecitication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to clothes-hanger supports,and particularly tosuch hanger supports as are used in wardrobe trunks.

In wardrobe trunks, one section of the trunk is designed to supportgarment hang ers at its upper end and these supports for the hangersordinarily consist of foldable or telescopic brackets attached to thehanger section of the trunk and projecting out therefrom and telescopicto permit the hangers and the clothes to be drawn out so that they maybe readily removed from the trunk or to permit the clothes and hangersto be forced toward each other in a compact mass and permit the trunk tobe closed.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a-telescopichanger support comprising a rod-like member which is rigidly attached tothe trunk and a sleeve teles scopically engaging with the rod andmovable inward and outward thereon, this sleeve being so formed at itsinner endthat when it is drawn outward it will carry with it the hangerswhich are supported on the sleeve,

and when the sleeve is forced inward it will ride beneath any hangerswhich are supported on the rod so that the hangers shallform noimpediment to the inward movement of the sleeve but shall ride up overthe inner end ofthe sleeve and onto the sleeve, and in particular to soform the inner end of the sleeve that the smallprojection orboss on thesleeve which constitutes the'slight impediment causing the hangers to bewithdrawn with the sleeve will not cause any impediment to the riding upof the hangers upon the sleeve.

A further object is to provide means whereby to prevent the sharp orthin end of the sleeve from striking against the bracket supporting thecoacting rod and thus prevent this sharp end of the sleeve from beingoverturned or dulled.

A still further object is to so construct this device that the outer endof the sleeve,

CLOTHES-HANGER SUPPORT FOR WARDROBE TRUNKS.

Applicati onfiled March 14, 1923. seriaino. 625,117.

when the sleeve is forcedfully inward, will be approximately flush withthe bracket which supports the sleeve. i j

Other objects have to do with the details of construction andarrangement of parts as will appear more fully hereinafter.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein 1-Figure, 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a wardrobetrunk, the trunk body being shown in dotted lines, showing my improvedclothes hanger structure ap plied thereto,

Figure 2 is a vertical section from front to rear through (meet thetelescopic hanger supports and its supporting brackets;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Figure 2; V

Figure 4, is a section on the line t d of Figure 2 and Figure 5 is asection on the line 5&5 of Figure 2, both of these figures showing theposition taken by a l-ianger when it arrives at the planes designated44. and 5-5;

Figure dis a fragmentary rear end elevation of one of the sleeves 1.7;

Figure 7 is zi -fragmentary front elevation of one of the sleeves 17. va

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that in Figure 1, I haveillustrated one section A of a wardrobe trunk havingthe lid B. Theseparts may be of any usual or suitable construction. 10 designates a Ushaped reinforcing bar which is quite commonly found in wardrobe trunksand which isfriveted or otherwise attached to the side and rear walls ofthe trunk body A and vwhosev outer ends 11 are inwardly turned.

Rear brackets 12 are mounted upon the rear memberof this U-shapedreinforcing bar and a forward brackets 13 are mounted upon the inwardlyturned portionsll. These forward-brackets extend upward, then rearward,andthen again upward, as at 14, and mountedlupon the upper ends of therear brackets 12 and the forward brackets 13 are a pair oflongitudinally extending rods 15 these rods being reduced at their endsand having the reduced ends passed through a rtures in the brackets andthen headed, as as 16.

Coa-cting with each rod 15 isa sleeve l'l which is formed preferably ofsheet metal and the strip forming the blank being bent into anapproximately tubular sleeve adapted to telescopically embrace the'rod15, the outer edges of the strip forming the sleeve being so formed asto provide longitudinally extending flanges 18 which are approximatelyparallel to each other and spaced sufliciently apart to accommodate theupper end of the bracket 13. at its forward end by means of a head 19having a circular portion larger than the cross section of .the sleeveand extending downward over the ends of theflanges 18. The head isformed with lateral flanges 20 and 21 and these lateral flanges areriveted to the flanges 18 by means of the rivet 22. The lower end of theblank from which the head is made is bent inward, as at 28, to fill upthe slot or space between the flanges 18 and then is upwardly extended,asat'24, and bears against the rivet 22, as illustrated most clearly inFigure 2. The flanges 18 do not extend the full length of the sleeve butmay extend rearward any desired distance and then terminate, and thesleeve is then circularly bent to snugly surround the rod, the two edgesof the blank from which the sleeve is made approximating each other.

The sleeve at its rear end, as is illustrated particularly in detail inFigure 6, has its rear'end cut away at the side, as at 25, and the lowerportion of the sleeve extends slightly beyond the upper portion, as at26. The upper portion of the sleeve is bevelled downward and rearward,as at 27, so as to form a relatively sharp edge which will slip beneaththe hangers C and the sheet metal of the sleeve is struck out to form asemielliptical rib 28, the two arms of the rib extending rearward anddownward on each side of the sleeve at the rear end thereof andterminating at the two ends of the beveled or knife edge portion 27.That portion of the sleeve directly rearward ofthe middle portion of therib 28 is convexly curved longitudinallyto a slight extent so that thecrest of this middle portion and the crests of the ribs 28 will beconcentric to a common center. This is illustrated most clearly inFigure l, and thus the wall of the notch c of the hanger Gwill touch therear end of the sleeve at three points only. As the'sleeve movesrearward. however, and the hanger arrives at a position to ride over theapex of the hump orrib 28, the wall of the notch 0 will ride entirelyupon the rib, as illustrated in Figure 5, so that the apexof the notchcrwill be above the rib or hump 28 and will readily ride over this ribor hump. If it were not for this peculiar construction of the rib 28, orin other words if the sleeve were simply provided with a circumferentialA rib, there would be an iinpediment'to the hanger riding over this ribwhen the sleeve is forced inward, but with the construction whiclr'Ihave described the hanger rides up This sleeve is closed the inclined orbeveled edge 27 and rides up on the rib without impediment until itpasses the apex of thelrib and Ithendrops down on the other side andthen'rides upon the tubular portion of the sleeve in the usual manner,Thus in actual practice there is practically no impediment to the freemovement ofthe hangers from the rod 15 onto the sleeve 17 upon arearward movement of the sleeve,bu't upon a forward movement of thesleeve as, for instance, when the sleeves are drawn outward, the hump orrib 28 will cause the hangers to move outward with the sleeves. Inasmuchas the extremity 26 projects rearward beyond the sharpened edge 27, itfollows that'this extremity 26 will strike the bracket 12 before thesharpened edge can strike this bracket so that there is no danger ofthis sharpened edge becoming dulled, mutilated oroverturned. 1 h

The upwardly turned end 24 of the cap or head 22 is also so disposedthat the end 26 will strike the bracket 12 before this upwardly turnedextre1nity'24'will strike the bracket 13. Thus the head will not beexposed to blows which would tend to detach it or bend it. It will benoted that by bending rearward the upper "portion of the bracket 13 withthe head 19 comes practically flushwith or slightly inward of theinwardly turnedends 11 0f the reinforcing bar 10 and do not project outbeyond this reinforcing bar so that the upper section of the trunk whenclosed fits against the ends ofthe reinforcing bar and'is bracedthereby, which otherwise would not be thecase. In order to prevent thesleeve 17 from being drawn out too far to an extent which would renderthe support of the sleeve on the rod 15 inadequate for the propersupport of thehangers, I disposed at stop-rivet 29 through'the flanges18. Where the trunk section A has a relatively shallow depth as, forinstance, 11'! steamer wardrobe trunks, the sleeve may be drawn out to amuch greater extent than in ordinary wardrobe trunks C.. In other words,if there is a hanger or hangers C resting upon the barsQo and the sleeveispushed inward, the hanger will ride easilyup over the sharpened edgesof the'sleeves and onto the body of the sleeves without the necessity oflifting the hangers by hand and lifting them over the ends of thesleeves as thesleeves are forced inward. On the other hand,when thesleeves are drawn outward, the rlbs '01 humps '28 will equivalent to thesection line 4-4 in Figure 2, and then as the sleeve continues itsmovement rearward. the hanger will be forced forward by the hangersbehind it but that the apex of the notch 0 will not descend and strikethe apex of the hump 28 but the side edges of the hanger will besupported by the sides of the rib 28 so that the apex of the notch 0will pass above this hump, as illustrated in Figure 5. y 7

An important advantage, of the rib 28 is that the rib acts to strengthenthe rear end of the sleeve. This is necessarv because when the sleevesare drawn out the weight of the clothes thereon is considerable, tend-,ing to tilt the forward end of the sleeve downward and urge the rearend of the sleeve upward, and it is particularly necessary when thesleeves are extended and a person is pushing the sleeves in, there beinga tendency under these circumstances to lift up on the forward end ofthe sleeve, which tends to bend up the rear end thereof. The rib 28 actsto stiffen, strengthen and reinforce the rear end so that it will resiststrain. Furthermore, this is particularly necessary where the side wallsof the sleeve are re-entrantly cut away, as at 26, in Fig ure 6.

It will be noted from Figure 2 that the sharp or beveled edge 27 isconvexly rounded instead of being angular or re-entrant and this is asmall but important feature for the reason that practice has shown methat this convexly rounded edge does not tend to out, chip or otherwisemar the wall of the notch 0 in the hanger C. These hangers are made ofveneer and are relatively soft and where the rear edge of the sleeve. isnot properly formed the rear edge tends to bite into the wood when thesleeve is forced backward against a. hanger and gradually chip away androughen the edge of the wood, thus in a short time making it diliicultfor the hanger to rise up onto the sleeve when the sleeve is pushedback. It will be noted that in my construction there is a three-pointbearing for the hanger, as illustrated particularly in Figure 4, thehanger resting upon the top of the sleeve at the uppermost portion ofthe bulge part thereof and upon the ribs. This secures a. full supportfor the hanger with less frictional re sistance and, as beforeexplained, carries the hanger rearward past the rib 28 without this ribforming any obstacle for the passage of the hanger.

I claim 1. In a clothes supporting structure, a hanger sup-porting barformed of two sections, one of said sections embodying a rod and theother a sleeve havingtelescopic engagement with the rod, the sleeve atits rear end being inwardly cut away at its sides and the upper portionof the rear end of the sleeve being beveled to a thin edge, the sleeveatits rear end having an approximately U- shaped, slightly protuberantrib extending from the beveled edge ofthe sleeve upward and forward,with the apex of the rib disposed above the longitudinal axis of thesleeve, the side portions of the rib acting to lift the hanger and guideit over said protuberance without impediment.

2. In a clothes supporting structure, a hanger supporting bar formed intwo sectrons, one of saidsections embodying a rod and the other a sleevehaving telescopic engagement with the rod, the sleeve at its rear endbeing cut away on each side and the upper portion of the rear end of thesleeve between said cut away portions being beveled to athin edge andthe rear end of the sleeve having a semi-elliptical rib formed thereon,the ends of the rib merging into the beveled end of the sleeve on eachside of the middle thereof and the apex of the rib being coincident withthe longitudinal axis of the upper surface of the sleeve. In a clothessupporting structure, a hanger supporting bar formed in two sections,one of said sections embodying a rod and the other a sleeve havingtelescopic engagement with the rod, the sleeve at its rear end beingbeveled to a thin edge and the rear end of the sleeve being formed withan approximately, U-shaped reinforcing rib having its apex disposedabove the longitudinal axis 'of the sleeve and the arms of the rodintersecting the beveled portion thereof, the ends of the rib beingbeveled.

4:. In a clothes supporting structure, a hanger supporting bar formed intwo sections, one of said sections embodying a rod and the other asleeve having telescopic engagement with the rodfthe sleeve at its rearend being inwardly cut away at its sides and the upper portion of therear end of the sleeve being beveled to a thin edge, said upper portionof the sleeve at its rear end having an approximately U-shaped ribextending from the beveled edge of the sleeve upward and forward andthatportion of the sleeve defined by said rib being bulged outward andmerging into the beveled edge of the sleeve.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

THOMAS J. Moons.

